Windows Vista vs Windows XP

[Xiahou]

If *nix had decent support for games, I'd run it

Heard of Wine?

Anything rated "Platinum" or "Gold" should run well under Linux...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Platinum - Applications which install and run flawlessly on an out-of-the-box Wine installation
Gold - Applications that work flawlessly with some special configuration

[sapi]

Last I heard Wine still had serious problems running modern directx applications (performance, not compatibility, wise)?

[Xiahou]

Last I heard Wine still had serious problems running modern directx applications (performance, not compatibility, wise)?

Oh it's definitely not perfect by a long shot. But apps that work under Wine generally work well. All you can do is search the appDB and see what experience others have had running a game. Obviously it's not likely to ever support games designed for Windows as well as Windows itself, but it's nice to know that if I ever make the switch, I won't have to give up all my Windows games.

[caravel]

Cedega is better for running games than Wine. TW games don't run too well however. I think RTW and M2TW can be got to a barely working state in some cases but STW/MTW don't seem to work at all.

[sapi]

I wonder how well virtualisation would work?

I know VMware server (free) can run using unix as a host OS, and the reports I've read on that sort of software indicates that the performance hit isn't really that bad (maybe ~10%).

Unfortunately, unless I'm mistaken (I'll check), they were only testing desktop performance, so didn't stress the graphics subsystem. Do any of you folks know what the overhead on 3d would be with virtualisation?

Else I might have to have a look into whether you can simultaneously have an image bootable and virtualise-able (to save space and simplify things, so that I could virtualise windows from *nix using the same install as was bootable on its own).

Any ideas, or is this off-topic rant getting a bit boring?

[Lemur]

I just found out that PC Magazine's Vista Death Watch is its most popular column. Dissent within the ranks, eh?

Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP because Vista has simply not shown any life in the market. We have to begin to ask ourselves if we are really looking at Windows Me/2007, destined to be a disdained flop. By all estimates the number of Vista installations hovers around the number of Macs in use.

How did this happen? And what’s going to happen next? Does Microsoft have a Plan B?

[Xiahou]

Great article, Lemur. I think he's really nailed it- especially the suggested fixes.

I also liked his article on Shrink-Wrap Software vs. Hosted Service